Christmas.....What?????

(Elder Dial sent this Dec. 26th)

Hello everyone!  Hope you all had a merry Christmas yesterday!

This last week was awesome!  Both of our sacrament meetings sang sooo many songs, my throat has been dry for... less than 1 day.  Don't know where I was going with that sentence but I'll keep it in the email. XD

I'm starting a new Christmas tradition, as I told my family yesterday when I skyped home...  behold, picture number one:  the New-and-Probably-Not-Improved Elder Eli James Dial Christmas Smolder.  You're welcome, world.  XD

Anyways, we had a white elephant gift exchange yesterday as missionaries, where some of the other missionaries brought two gifts, soo... my gift was the only one not picked.  Sums up how close Elder Schraedel and I have been to having really good success this week. ;)

For example, we had planned to have dinner with a family on Tuesday and then we were going to go caroling with them right after dinner. Sounds good right? But when we get there for dinner, we find out that we're going to meet up at the church... (But aren't we all already here?)  So we're riding with them down to the church, where we find out that we're participating in the Relief Society Social.  -_- Not what we had in mind, but we'll take it. XD

We had zone conference this last week, and it was sweet!  The whole last half of it was dedicated to some improvised skits for some fun. 

But, one of the things that has been going around in my head is, "why is Christ's birth one of the most important events to the whole world?"  I was wondering that because I didn't feel that way myself. Then, at a member's house on Christmas Eve, watching the Nativity Bible video, that's when it hit me. I was pondering about the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ lesson and that's when I decided that the day of the First Vision is the most important day to me.  Why?  Without the First Vision, you and I would believe that Christ's birth was just a moment in history that we measure time from.  Because of the First Vision that Joseph Smith had, you, me and other members of the Church know who Christ is better than any other religious group in the world- and that's a fact.  

Anyways, I got to go!

Te whanaunga mo ake tonu!

Elder Eli James Dial